For nearly a year, Keling has been waiting for blood spilled from ruptured vessels in his right eye to settle at the bottom of his eye like spices in a bottle of Italian dressing. But now there is hope that the end is near.

Next week, Keling will have a two-hour surgery in which the blood will be sucked out of the side of his eye and replaced with a clear gel. That will, hopefully, signal the end of what has been a tense 10-month period.

But before that, Keling and his 11-12 year old Northern teammates will head to San Angelo to try to avoid the end of a magical season that has seen them reach the Texas West State Tournament for the first time since winning it as 9-10 year olds. A win at state this weekend and Northern will be a regional title away from a spot in the Little League World Series.

Keling has always dreamed of going to Williamsport, Pa. for the Little League World Series but not like this.

In many ways, he is still the same player who starred at shortstop and pitcher for Northern last year -- a powerful yet patient hitter with the same stout build as his father, Korey, a Northern assistant who played professionally for seven seasons, including 2 1/2 with the Midland Angels.

"Last year," Northern coach Chris Jauz said, "(Karter) was one of the top players."

But for Karter, this year has been very different.

Last August, Karter noticed the vision in his right eye was blurred and figured he needed glasses. Yet after visiting the doctor, he and his family learned that Karter had a condition called Pars planitis, which refers to inflammation of the pars plana, the small piece of tissue next to the iris that makes the fluid in the eye that nourishes the lens and cornea.

The inflammation in the pars plana can cause inflammation in the blood vessels in the eye, or in the case of Karter, the rupturing of the vessels in the eye.

"The doctors explained it like shaking up a snow globe and blood is just spinning around in there like a snow globe," Korey said.

The only alternative to surgery was to let the blood settle at the bottom of his eye, only that can take a long time -- a lot longer than spices in a bottle of Italian dressing as the doctor initially explained.

"They said it's like spreading toast crumbs on a jar of jelly," Korey said.

Karter said he was scared initially as were his parents upon learning that there was an eight percent chance that his condition was a sign of multiple sclerosis.

But Monday, the Kelings traveled to Dallas to visit a doctor who told them Karter didn't have the disease. On Tuesday, his mother gave him his low-dose shot of chemotherapy to reduce the inflammation in his eye.

Karter said the shot went well but what hasn't been easy is a life of inactivity the last 10 months. He can't practice with Northern and gets one at-bat per game as a sub.

He said he spends most of his time watching TV since even reading gives him headaches.

For a player who has been a part of four state championship teams in his short career, a life away from the diamond and the football field doesn't appeal to him.

"I'm at home a lot," Karter said, "I'd rather just play."

Yet Karter isn't the only one who misses his time on the field.

"I'm used to me and him doing everything together. We'd even go to practice or games early to work on things," Korey said. "So, it is tough to come out and have him not even be at practice. But it is tougher on him to come out and watch everybody practice when he can't really do anything.

"So, he said it actually makes it worse, so he'd rather not be at practice because being out here and seeing everybody do stuff that he can't do, it's tougher on him."

But his teammates try to help with acts like accompanying him to the movies, no matter how impromptu the request.